Why do people become spies? Would you want to be a spy if offered the chance?

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Re: Why do people become spies? Would you want to be a spy if offered the chance?

I can't follow-up Johann's account on the spying end... but maybe a little bit about counterspying. I can tell you that I grew up as a young kid in the 80's and my dad worked in a very sensitive field of defense. And my sister and I received some coaching about what kinds of suspicious questions to not answer regarding my dad's work or confirming what he did exactly should people ask. I remember at one point asking my dad why we had to be careful about people asking about his job and I don't remember his answer word for word (I was under 10 in the 80's) but he play acted a story where the gist of it basically was a Russian agent blackmailing secrets from someone in his line of work and using kids.. or knowledge of their schedules and where they went to school or picking them up-- as leverage.

It was also because of this that I was not able to get a passport until my 20's. Also neighbor kids would always ask me why people had come to their house to talk about us and I remember always thinking that meant we were in some kind of trouble, and I was never really sure why that happened, as a kid. But I guess it's normal procedure for anyone with a high security clearance for the FBI to check with your neighbors annually about your habits or if a lot of guests come and go from the property, that kind of thing.

My dad just recently retired, but it's funny, I hesitate even now to say what he did just from a lifetime of not being 'supposed' to talk about it. But he worked on two separate projects in his career, they involved ICBM's and later, B2 stealth technology.

I was one of those kids that on the rare occasion I got to go to my dad's work I get past the security area and see one of those blue maps of the United States where once it's explained to me I gather from it that I grew up in the 5th highest projected Soviet first-strike target. I had a rather morbid childhood. lol.

Re: Why do people become spies? Would you want to be a spy if offered the chance?

A high school friend (a good enough friend that I was a groomsman at his wedding) confided in me after the fact that he had been hired by the FBI to spy at his college campus, and that he was thoroughly ashamed of what he did, without telling me any of the details. This was in the context of having just asked me if it was true that, as he had heard, I was 1) gay and 2) an escort--I verified both--and that as he had just learned something scandalous about me, I'd learn something scandalous about him.

Re: Why do people become spies? Would you want to be a spy if offered the chance?

THANK YOU! for bringing the 1983 crisis to our attention! I was completely (well not exactly "completely") unaware of it! That is, I had NO idea just how Serious it was!

Here are a few things I lived through, and DO remember:

The launch of "Sputnik", which, even though it was actually fairly benign (given what we're flying these days), was considered a Major threat! As a kid, I was at Cedar Point, in Sandusky, OH, and they turned off all the rides, and lights, so we could watch the world's first man-made satellite pass over our heads.

I vividly remember the Cuban Missile Crisis! And, was VERY aware of how close we came to possibly annihilating all life on Earth!

I remember all the "Spy" themed TV shows, and movies, of the 60s and early 70s.

I remember standing at "Checkpoint Charley", and looking over the Berlin Wall, at the Brandenburg Gate, and how BRIGHT West Berlin was at night, and the East being nearly totally dark.

I remember my Dad's stories about the Berlin Air Lift, while flying into, and out of, Tempelhof Airport.

I remember the Nike Missile Sites near my college campus.

I remember the ads for backyard bomb shelters.

Those were all quite interesting, though VERY Dangerous, times. And, we still do not live in SAFE times, for any of us.

I also remember Dick Cheney "outing" Valarie Plame as a CIA agent, merely for Political reasons!

Would I spy for MY country and our allies? If I thought I could do any good, Hell YES!

All the more reasons to ... no matter what ...

Keep smilin'!!
Chaz

Last edited by Kyanimal; January 22nd, 2013 at 06:02 PM.

WISDOM is the Knowledge you've gained ... After you could have used it!_Me

Re: Why do people become spies? Would you want to be a spy if offered the chance?

I am completely passionate about the cold war, and also the WWII, spies made so much for (and against) us, I would love to be one! Of course the James Bond obviousness isn't at all near the reality but he makes part of the mystique! I don't believe that money is the major argument to turn someone into a spy (even if history is full of examples of people that would sell their own mother) but the will to change the world has to be the main reason why so many people risked or loosed their lives, even the ones that where in the wrong side...

About spying your own country, well, for me my country is the land, is the people, the ways, the food, the essence! Not the guy that is running it! I'm quite sure if I was Russian I would do my best to fight the current power... And not being Russian, I fear that a second cold war is on the way, I see the communist pattern repeating, but this time without the communist-equality propaganda, let's hope not...

Re: Why do people become spies? Would you want to be a spy if offered the chance?

Originally Posted by xbuzzerx

I can't follow-up Johann's account on the spying end... but maybe a little bit about counterspying. I can tell you that I grew up as a young kid in the 80's and my dad worked in a very sensitive field of defense. And my sister and I received some coaching about what kinds of suspicious questions to not answer regarding my dad's work or confirming what he did exactly should people ask. I remember at one point asking my dad why we had to be careful about people asking about his job and I don't remember his answer word for word (I was under 10 in the 80's) but he play acted a story where the gist of it basically was a Russian agent blackmailing secrets from someone in his line of work and using kids.. or knowledge of their schedules and where they went to school or picking them up-- as leverage.

It was also because of this that I was not able to get a passport until my 20's. Also neighbor kids would always ask me why people had come to their house to talk about us and I remember always thinking that meant we were in some kind of trouble, and I was never really sure why that happened, as a kid. But I guess it's normal procedure for anyone with a high security clearance for the FBI to check with your neighbors annually about your habits or if a lot of guests come and go from the property, that kind of thing.

My dad just recently retired, but it's funny, I hesitate even now to say what he did just from a lifetime of not being 'supposed' to talk about it. But he worked on two separate projects in his career, they involved ICBM's and later, B2 stealth technology.

I was one of those kids that on the rare occasion I got to go to my dad's work I get past the security area and see one of those blue maps of the United States where once it's explained to me I gather from it that I grew up in the 5th highest projected Soviet first-strike target. I had a rather morbid childhood. lol.

Wow!

I guess it could be a money thing? I always wonder if the government found some super genius talent somewhere and then recruit them to be spys?
Growing up I think i watch too much anime and Spy girls, so I think it might be fun. I understand the risks though.